Finally deciding to get more serious, Adel extended his hand and summoned a silver spear into his grasp. Golden flames ignited and engulfed his weapon as he assumed his stance.
Lucas let out a sigh and summoned his bow. Pulling the bowstring, he conjured a bright azure arrow made entirely of mana on the taut string.
The Golden Wolf wasted no time, rushing towards Lucas with an incredible burst of speed. His speed made him look like a golden blur, impossible for a mundane human to track with the naked eye.
But unfortunately for him, Lucas was far from a mundane human.
He held the same rank as Adel at this moment.
And thus, Lucas' eyes easily matched Adel's speed as he released his grip on the bowstring.
The azure arrow shot forward, splitting into ten mana darts that rained down upon Adel.
The Golden Wolf's eyes widened, but he didn't slow down. He continued to charge forward while skillfully evading the mana darts and leaving a trail of golden flames behind.
Thwoosh, Thwoosh, Thwoosh-!
None of Lucas' arrows managed to hinder Adel as he closed in on the silver-haired boy. Lucas had no time to draw his bow again since Adel was nearly upon him.
And as Adel stepped into striking range, he thrust his spear toward Lucas' head, aiming to pierce his skull.
Stunned by Adel's killing intent, Lucas managed to raise his bow in time, using it as a shield to block his twin brother's spear.
Thwoomâ!!
Unfortunately, his bow didn't survive the clash against Adel's fiery spear and quickly exploded into smoldering splinters.
However, it gave him more than enough time to evade Adel's attack.
Lucas hopped a few steps back to safety and moved his gaze on the remains of his shattered Yumi bow.
With regret, he threw away the broken remnants of his bow and assumed an unarmed combat stance by raising his arms and clenching his fists, accumulating mana in them.
In the blink of an eye, Adel was once again right in front of Lucas.
He pushed the head of his spear at Lucas, this time targeting his ribs.
Lucas swatted Adel's spear away with his right hand and swiftly threw his left leg in an arc, executing a perfect roundhouse kick.
Fwoosh-!!!
But his kick swept right above Adel's head as his twin brother dropped to his knees at the last possible moment.
Why the fuck is he so fast?! â was what Adel thought as he barely evaded Lucas' attack by crouching in the nick of time, feeling the violent wind sweeping above his head.
But since his kick missed, Lucas was left off balance. It was the perfect moment for Adel to strike. With that thought in mind, he lunged forward with his spear, aiming for Lucas' chest this time.
Yet, before the shimmering silver blade of Adel's spear could even touch Lucas, the silver-haired boy had already jumped back several meters.
Once again, Adel found himself stunned by Lucas's speed. He had little time to marvel at it, though, as he immediately rushed after his twin brother.
Lucas, on the other hand, nodded in determination. He had decided that it was finally time to go on the offensive.
"...Huh?!"
But as soon as he tried to act on his thoughts, he realized that he couldn't move! His legs felt anchored to the ground, making him unable to take even a single step!
Quickly shifting his gaze downward, he immediately noticed spikes of crystal-clear ice protruding from the ground around his feet, effectively immobilizing him.
Involuntarily, he shifted his attention to look for a certain silverhaired half-elf.
He easily spotted Yelena weakly standing up on her feet on the exact spot where his Hellfire Doom spell had hit her.
Thin wisps of black smoke rose around her as she continued to cough violently with blood smearing her lips.
From the looks of it, her ice barrier spell had protected her from the immolating fire of the explosion, but the shockwave had still taken a clear toll on her.
She struggled to remain standing, but her ability to cast spells was intact, as she had just used one to render Lucas immobile.
"Now, Adel!" She cried out, giving her brother the signal.
"Arghhh!" Adel wasted no time. He let out a loud, primal roar and jumped over Lucas before bringing his spear down in a swift slash as he descended toward him.
Lucas clicked his tongue again, raising his hands to block the incoming attack from above his head.
Thwaaam-!!
The impact of Adel's attack sent Lucas crashing down to his knees.
Lucas quickly recovered and tried to conjure the flame lances.
"...What?" But to his surprise, as soon as his mana permeated the atmosphere to manifest his spell into reality, it was instantly absorbed by an invisible force.
It was Adel! Realizing this, Lucas looked up just in time to see a foot approaching his face.
Thwack-!!
A solid kick squarely landed on Lucas' face, throwing him several meters back as the ice spikes restraining his legs shattered under the tremendous force.
Without granting him a moment to catch his breath, Adel rushed toward Lucas as soon as he crashed to the ground.
Lucas, however, rolled and managed to pull himself up to his knees.
As Adel closed in on him, he bellowed, "Mana Burst!"
But at that precise moment, almost in synchrony, Adel triggered his Gift again by shouting, "Mana Drain!"
And just like before, Lucas felt the mana he had used to empower his Gift being drained by an invisible force.
This was Adel's Gift â the ability to steal mana from spells and Gifts that required it to replenish his own mana core.
He was the perfect example of an ideal soldier. He could keep fighting as long as his enemies kept using mana. His gift was almost as broken as Leo's Symphony technique... almost.
There was still a way to defeat Adel.
Actually, there were two ways.
One of the ways was to refrain from using any spells or techniques that needed one to flood their mana into the atmosphere.
In simpler terms, employing Elemental Aura, Martial Aura, Artillery Spells, or AoE spells was entirely off the table.
Lucas could only rely on using his Weapon Arts and internal mana channeling to fortify his body.
The second way was to simply surpass the maximum amount of mana Adel could feasibly absorb.
His Gift essentially turned him into a battery, and like any battery, he had its limits when it came to how much mana he could hold.
That limit was his Gold-ranked mana.
"Your spells won't work on me!" Adel raged as rushed forward and he swung his spear at the kneeling figure of his twin brother once again.
Thwaaam-!!
But this time, Lucas didn't even try to defend himself. He just let the silver spear struck him while getting up on his feet as if nothing had happened.
"...What the hell?" Adel's eyes widened as pulled back his spear and swung its shimmering silver blade at Lucas' shoulder.
Thwaaam-!!
Once again, his spear connected but failed to cut through Lucas'
golden armor. Adel gulped and pulled back his spear once again with trembling hands.
"Arghhh!" He let out a raging battle cry and unleashed a fury of spear thrusts at Lucas.
This time, the silver-haired boy stepped in closer to Adel to get inside the reach of his spear. Adel tried to move back but his twin brother was just too fast.
"Stay back, youâ" Adel was about to curse as a heavy kick landed on his chest and the wind was knocked out of his lungs.
His spear jerked from his grip as he was thrown back from the force of the impact.
But despite his inferiority complex concerning Lucas, Adel had exceptional combat skills. He ignored the pain and raised his hands, taking a barehanded combat stance.
Lucas leaped in, launching an onslaught of attacks - kicks, punches, palm strikes - each seamlessly flowing into another.
Adel was no slouch in hand-to-hand combat. In fact, it was his forte. However, facing his twin brother in this moment, he found himself unable to do anything but take the abuse.
Lucas was too swift, too precise, and simply flawless. His defense revealed no openings, and there were no flaws to his technique.
Not to mention, he was strong! Exceptionally strong! Adel felt like he was being hit by a hurricane of adamantine sledgehammers, each hit making his bone tremble and groan in pain even when he managed to block them!
What kind of monster am I fighting?! â Adel couldn't help but think, his panic growing evident.
